Dr. Brett Sweitzer

Biography

Brett Sweitzer is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. He has served as the Chief Appeals Counsel at the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania since 2003, where he supervises appellate litigation in a wide variety of federal criminal cases. Over his career, he has handled approximately 250 appeals before the Third Circuit and has represented detainees at the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. For his work, Sweitzer and his colleagues received the Clifford Scott Green Bill of Rights Award in 2008. He was co-counsel in the case of Corley v. United States, wherein the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the McNabb-Mallory exclusionary rule that protects a criminal defendant’s right to prompt presentment before a magistrate following arrest. In 2011, he served as the national co-chair of the Defender Supreme Court Resource Assistance Panel, which provides guidance and support to federal defenders and Criminal Justice Act attorneys working on merits-stage litigation at the Supreme Court. Additionally, he is a member of the Advisory Committee for the Circuit Model Criminal Jury Instructions and sits on the Executive Council of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Federal Practice Committee and Amicus Curiae Committee of the National Association of Federal Defenders. Sweitzer regularly presents on topics related to appellate practice and legal writing at programs organized by the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, D.C., and the Pennsylvania Bar Institute in Philadelphia. Before joining the Federal Community Defender Office, he practiced at the law firm Pepper Hamilton LLP in Philadelphia.

Research Interests

Experience